Fall Colors Part II & Adieu to the Smokies

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower (Albert Camus)

Hiking in Pigsah Forest, NC

Well, we’re almost done with our stay in the Smokies and it’s been a perfect 3 weeks. When we arrived the mountains were still green with summer. Then, with a few days of frost and autumn sun they burst forth with all the glory of fall color. 

Our last week has been spent just outside Asheville, NC, a bohemian mountain town with the feel of San Francisco and a strong link to the land. In fact farmers are a such a big part of the culture that the local food guide is over 100 pages long. We’ve had expresso downtown, bought pastured eggs from a side-stall in the country and driven the warm-hued hills of the Smokies along the iconic Blue Ridge Parkway.  The entire area is also incredibly dog-friendly with pooch’s on every trail and pets accepted in every outdoor restaurant. And to top it all off the people are as warm as their furry friends. It’s the perfect mix of city, outdoors and good Southern charm.

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway

There’s so much more to do in the area, but the leaves are falling and moving on and so are we. As the colors fade in our windshield we’ll say adieu to the Smokies and hope we meet again.

 

 

Fall Colors in the Smoky Mountains

Bright red maple leaves color the morning light

I’ve always wanted to see the colors change in the Smoky Mountains. It’s a spectacular and unique display. Great bursts of warm color spring forth from the mountains and cascade down the slopes like a long, tantilizing sunset. It’s a sensuous mix of yellows, orange and reds that develop together over several weeks, starting in mid-Sept at the highest elevations (~6,000 feet) and  moving down the mountain slopes until they “peak” in ~3rd week of October and then fade. The whole thing is a color theatre in motion, and what a play it is!

A theatre of color near Erwin, TN

The most interesting thing is that the leaves hide these colors all year. The strong, warm orange and yellow colors are cartenoids which are usually hidden most of the year by green chlorophyll. As the days shorten and colder nights set-in, the green pigments deteriorate and allow the other colors to shine. The darker reds and purples come from anthocyanins produced when sugar breakdown changes with the season.

The reason it’s so spectacular particularly in the Appalachians is because they harbor over 100 different native species of trees, many of which are deciduous. So, trees such as the Birch, Dogwood, Poplar and Sourwood change first followed by Beech, Hickory, Oak and the Sweet Gum several weeks later.

A burst of flame in the canopy

It’s a chemical and biological colorscope which provides a feast for the eyes. So famous and so short is this display that it’s wildly popular with tourists and monitored by video cams, avid nauralists and even a Forest Service color “hotline”.

Of course we don’t need any of those things. Lucky as we are to be here, we can walk the changes as nature graces to give them to us. And that’s a gift we’ll take anyday.